


The Secret Ingredient Is Love

by dorkpatroller



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Canon Compliant, Christmas baking, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Multi, Polyamory, Winter Festival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 09:14:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16971828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorkpatroller/pseuds/dorkpatroller
Summary: Sumia walks into the kitchen late at night to find her lovers trying and failing to bake up some holiday cheer.





	The Secret Ingredient Is Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gaperitis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaperitis/gifts).



 

“What’s…” Sumia sucks in a gasp as she pushes the door open into the kitchen. The army is still on the move, but over the Winter Festival, they've decided to settle into town and try to spread some cheer between battles. No one wants to be at war over the holidays. Tomorrow is the festival, and most everyone now is tucked into bed waiting for morning. 

 

Traditionally speaking, gifts are left by the pillows of children that night as proof in the magic of the Winter Festival. The handful children who happen to be traveling with them now are all a little too big for that, but Lissa and Sumia joined forces in ensuring that at least a  _ little _ something was given to them. Lucina and her friends never had that traditional childhood, did they? So Sumia found each of them a book she thinks they’ll adore with flowers pressed into the pages where they have plenty of space in the margins, and Lissa, Sumia thinks, actually  _ forced _ Frederick to knit scarves and mittens for them. 

 

It’s late now, and Sumia has only just returned from her mission with Lissa of sneakily placing gifts. She only actually placed one… because she stumbled and tripped over a stray bag in Owain’s room and nearly woke him. He  _ didn’t _ wake up… but after that Lissa demanded she be the brawns of the operation, and Sumia could just be the one who organizes which gifts go to which kiddo.

 

Since they’re in town for a while, most everyone has their own rooms. They rented out several cottages, and the people were happy to host them there since they support Chrom’s cause. Sumia expected that when she returned to her room, she would find two other people there tucked in and dreaming sweet dreams of sugarplums. Instead, the room was empty, so she went exploring. 

 

It’s how she wound up here, in the kitchen they’re sharing with a few other people who are in this cabin with them. She came downstairs just to peek into the sitting area. Maybe Stahl and Zohara were reading together by the fire? But the fire has died down for the night and  _ that _ is when she caught a whiff of something burning. “What’s  _ happening?!  _ Oh my goodness!” 

 

Zohara is standing over a book reading what may be a recipe but she's absolutely covered in flour. Head to toe! Sumia can barely see her freckles peeking through here or there, and her hair looks like a powdered wig. Stahl has an apron on in the very least, but he's equally messy and worse than that he's popping a ball of what must be cookie dough in his mouth. 

 

“You were an inspiration to us, Sumia!” Zohara looks up from her book and beams. “We’re so proud of you, and… hey, what are you doing?” 

 

Sumia rushes across the room. In her haste, she doesn't even trip, because she's on a mission to save their lives. She grabs for a kitchen towel and opens the oven to pull out the tray of black, crispy  _ charcoal _ . “You’re going to catch us all on fire!” The baking sheet is hot and she nearly drops it onto the stone countertop, but once it’s out she turns around to see Zohara looking skeptical (and maybe disappointed) and Stahl setting down the bowl of dough. 

 

“Stahl,” Sumia pants, suddenly exhausted. “Stop eating that! You’ll give yourself a stomach ache on the eve of the festival. It’s so late! Why are you two up baking, and… Stahl, aren’t you a good cook?” 

 

“Not all cooks can bake,” Stahl shrugs his shoulders. 

 

Zohara steps closer and smiles just a bit sheepishly at Sumia. “It’s just that what you did tonight got me thinking. Those kids haven’t had any Festival Magic in their lives since they were too little to remember. They’re going to be so overwhelmingly happy and energized! I think that all of our troops could use a little bit of holiday energy to get us out of this slump and back into the swing of things.” 

 

Well, the slump is that no one wants to be at war, but Sumia smiles despite herself because that's one of the sweetest things she's ever heard. "You two are baking cookies for everyone to bring them good cheer?" 

 

“Exactly that! Or, well, we tried.” Stahl wanders closer. When they’re side by side they’re so dramatically different in height, Sumia can’t help but smile. Zohara is really only as tall as his chest. She’s not even as tall as Sumia! It’s cute, in a way. Stahl wraps his arms around Sumia and she gasps when she realizes he’s  _ sticky _ . He lays his cheek on top of her head. Zohara swoops in and hugs her from the other side and coats a layer of flour on her purple dress. “We could use the help of a cheer expert!” 

 

“But it’s so late,” Sumia begins, but they hug her tighter and she can’t help it. She would do anything for them! “Oh, pegasus plops. Okay. I think we’ll have to start from scratch.” 

 

It doesn’t take too long. Sumia has been baking holiday treats her entire life! It’s an easy way to make people smile. She forces her well-intended lovers to wash up first. No flour all over them, no sticky hands, no mess. While they do that she prepares the ingredients for her go-to recipe, and she only drops one of the eggs! 

 

By the time they're back Sumia has her hair pulled up high on her head in a messy bun and she's rolling out the soft, yellow dough. She's got her apron tied around her waist and she giggles when they arrive. "Look at you! Just in time. What shapes should we cut?"

 

“You aren’t making them rounds?” Zohara asks. She jogs a few steps closer but Sumia stops her before she reaches the dough. 

 

“Hold it, Zo,” She whispers. She drapes an apron over her head and then steps around her to tie it around her back. While she’s there she produces a headband and uses it to try and push back and tame some of Zohara’s wild hair. When she’s finished she leans around her to leave a gentle kiss on her cheek. “Alright, you’re ready. Stahl—“ 

 

“I’m on it!” Stahl says. He replaces his own apron and even produces a tie to tie back some of the longer bits of his hair. Once he’s done he steps closer and stands between them, settling a gentle hand on each of their shoulders. 

 

“Alright!” Sumia grins. “This is the fun part. We use a small knife and cut the shapes we want the cookies to be. You must be very gentle, and remember: the cookies will spread so don’t go overboard. Like this!” She demonstrates by cutting out a small shape of a man, although this isn’t gingerbread. “Don’t make them too big, no bigger than this, alright? We want this batch to make a lot of cookies!” 

 

The three of them get to work and when the first tray is full Stahl places it in the oven. Zohara wrinkles her nose. "This is the part I wasn't able to succeed at last time," she admits. 

 

“There was a lot more wrong with your last batch than overbaking,” Sumia giggles. She giggles even harder when Zohara looks so offended. “I’m sorry!”

 

“How long do we bake them for?” Stahl asks. “You’re making this all seem easy. I should be taking notes. Maybe I can learn to bake after all.” 

 

“I don’t know,” Sumia answers. Both Stahl and Zohara’s faces fall, and they exchange an anxious look. Sumia finds herself covering her mouth with her fingertips and giggling again. “Oh, don’t be so surprised. I don’t know how long it takes, I just know that when they’re done you can  _ feel it _ . You can smell them! They’ll be just barely starting to turn golden on top, and they’ll stay soft on the inside.” 

 

“You think so?” Zohara asks. Sumia pushes her gently by her shoulders back to the dough.

 

“Come on now, help me roll this back out so we can make more.” 

 

It’s all going smoother than anticipated. The first batch comes out of the oven to cool on the baking sheet and the second batch goes in. When it’s all said and done they have dozens of cookies shaped like tiny men, candy canes, trees, and bells. When the last batch is in the oven Sumia begins cleaning up the disaster area that is the kitchen, and Stahl snatches one of the cookies to eat. 

 

“You know,” Zohara says as she takes it from him, breaks it in half, and gives him back only half of it. “Sumia is right. You’re going to wake up ill if you keep eating all these sweets. Especially the dough I made.” 

 

“It tasted fine to me, dear," Stahl says. 

 

Finally, it's time to decorate. Sumia pulls out a bowl and mixes sugar and milk and butter just perfectly into the frosting… and then she adds blueberries, raspberries, and mint leaves to color some batches of it. 

 

“You just know how to do this?” Zohara asks, in awe. “You haven’t looked at a single recipe!” 

 

“I’ve been doing this my whole life,” Sumia answers with a shrug. “It’s one of the things I’m good at.” 

 

"I can tell, you haven't tripped over yourself once." Zohara easily figures out what's next. Sumia watches her pick up a wooden spoon and uses it to spread a thin layer of icing over the cookies. A smile spreads over her lips and Sumia's heart flutters just seeing her look so happy. "This is fun!" 

 

"Do you think so?" Sumia asks. She picks up a bell and starts to spread the white frosting over it. After that, she puts little dabs of green and pink along the end for decoration. 

 

"Definitely. Look, I'm going to make this one look like Stahl." Zohara holds up one of the little person-shaped cookies that spread out a little further than expected in the middle. Stahl leans over her to look at it and huffs.

 

“I don’t think I ate  _ that _ many cookies.” He smiles at them, of course, and picks up a cookie to decorate as well. When Zohara is true to her word and makes the fat-Stahl cookie, he laughs this adorable belly laugh and leans down to blow a raspberry against her cheek. 

 

Sumia just can't help it. She's so overwhelmingly in love with them! They're so funny and so dumb. They're the smartest people she knows, of course, and far better soldiers than she'll ever be… but today is magical! This is better than reading a novel and falling asleep to dream of a better reality. She blinks her eyes wide and realizes then, with a startled smile, that her reality is finally  _ better _ than her dreams or books ever have been. And she didn’t even need a flower fortune to tell her as much, she can just  _ see  _ it. 

 

“Will the icing set overnight?” Zohara asks, and Sumia nods her head slowly. She’s put away the last of the dishes, all clean, and the kitchen—as well as their lives, no doubt—is saved. 

 

“Yes, we’re all done.” 

 

“Oh, good,” Stahl says. “You were getting really tired, huh?” 

 

Sumia blinks her eyes up at him and shakes her head. “Wh—What? I’m fine!” 

 

“You know you can’t hide it from him, he can read minds.” Zohara hums. “I think it would be best if we all turned in for the night. We have a big day of passing out cookies ahead of us. And the Winter Festival! I’m excited to see everyone who dresses up.” 

 

They each reach for one of her hands. Sumia looks down at them and then she curls her fingers around them. They’re so sweet. They said they were so proud of her for going out of her way to make presents for those kids, but she’s  _ incredibly  _ proud of them, too. They went way above and beyond to make the entire  _ army _ happy! She pulls on both of their hands until they both stumble forward and she can throw her arms around their shoulders. It’s the most unbalanced, lopsided group hug in the world… but she leans down and kisses first Zohara’s lips, and then she’s up on her toes to get Stahl’s. “This was the most wonderful Festival gift anyone has ever received. Thank you so much for letting me spend this time with you two… I loved it. I love you!” 

 

“Aw, Su,” Zohara lays her head gently against Sumia’s. “We love you too. Right?” 

 

Stahl swoops down to hug the two of them. He’s much better at the group hug thing. Probably because he can just bend down and catch them both in his arms. He plants a sweet kiss on Sumia’s cheek. “Right.” 

  
Best Winter Festival  _ ever _ .


End file.
